Two of my favorite birds are the Northern Flicker and Gray Catbird.
The flicker can be found in the northern edges of Texas during the summer but becomes much more common and widespread in the fall and winter. I have been hearing a flicker call the past few days, a sure sign for me that fall has arrived. The flicker is a somewhat strange kind of woodpecker, often seen on the ground feeding on ants. Noticeable in flight is a bright, white rump patch and either yellow or red underwing linings (known as the red-shafted or yellow-shafted flicker) and under the tail.
The other bird I always look forward to seeing in the fall is the Gray Catbird. It supposedly nests in far north-central Texas but I never see them in the summer. There are wide spread in migration but I have not seen or heard one yet this fall.
Named for its catlike “meow”, the Gray Catbird has a specially designed syrinx that allows it to sing two different songs at the same time.
They gain substantial amounts of weight in the fall prior to migration, and may weigh so much that flying is difficult until some of their stored energy is used up. Gray Catbirds migrate at night, and can sometimes be seen in large flocks in the spring when they make landfall along the Texas Coast.
Both photographs © Greg Lavaty